Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay

13 reviews

itzbrianna's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

The Cabin at the End of the World is a tense and complex tale of how choice, grief, and our beliefs can affect our lives. Tremblay does a fantastic job setting up the story and showing the differences of the world he’s building through a child’s eyes vs an adults. He is a master word smith with beautiful sentences woven to create poetic and meaningful stories for his characters. 

There are several things Tremblay does well aside from his way with words. He is skilled at forcing the reader to reflect on the choices being presented to the characters causing them to analyze their own beliefs and choices they make or would make in a similar situation. He also does a great job of weaving in religion without it being preachy and instead focuses the questions on each character’s actions instead. 

I enjoyed most of this story and loved how reflective it was from beginning to end. There were some things Tremblay could’ve done better though. The story is slow, which isn’t a problem in this case, but in certain parts the story is too slow with unnecessary descriptors that took me out of the story. There is a lot from this book that could’ve been cut to make the impact on us (the reader) stronger. Also the switch in POVs was sometimes jarring, but I get what the author was trying to do with that. It just could’ve been done better. 

There is an event that happens which is a turning point in the story. After this moment, the novel starts to drag only finally picking back up when it’s almost the end. I think having the characters be two gay men with an adopted daughter was a perfect choice. And the differences between Andrew and Eric are apparent throughout the story. The most impactful part for me was the last few pages. I literally wept at the end, snot and hiccuping and everything. 

I would recommend this book as it has beautiful imagery and is fun to analyze with friends or with a book club. The overarching plot is entertaining and I personally think the payoff is worth it. But I guess it just depends on how you’re interpreting the story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Suicide, Grief, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Misogyny and Medical trauma

marissa_nancy_nicole's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Vomit, Religious bigotry, and Alcohol

danibee's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I thought this was so chilling! It was a quick read but certainly not for everyone. I like how the author uses very intentional symbolism (hint: pay attention to the color yellow). This is the second book by Paul Tremblay I’ve read, and I think I liked A Head Full of Ghosts more. There is some weird POVs in this book, but they were mostly successful and clear although I did get confused at some points. Over all, if you like horror and don’t have any upcoming glamping plans, The Cabin at the End of the World is worth a read! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

kickitupanotch7's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Hate crime, Homophobia, and Vomit

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic

jaedia's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

 I was utterly transfixed by this book. I'd put it off for so long because "house invasion thriller" isn't my favourite subgenre but Cabin has a twist to it that makes the story so fascinating, the characters are incredible, the way it's written is fantastic... and the way he plays with ambiguity, holy hell. Chef's kiss. I *still* don't know what happened and I'm GLAD about it!! There were a few lines I highlighted just because they had me going, "Wow... what a line." Sheesh. Well now I need to obtain more Tremblay books, I guess. I've certainly got Horror Movie, his 2024 release, on preorder already. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Suicide, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Gaslighting, and Pandemic/Epidemic

csutherlin3's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Homophobia, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical trauma, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

seeker42's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Violence, Blood, Medical trauma, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, and Grief

Minor: Homophobia, Alcohol, and Pandemic/Epidemic

pkc's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I went into this looking for spooks and tension. While I found an embarrassment of tense riches, I didn’t get spooks so much as existential philosophical horror. Brutal, bloody, barbaric and sad, this was maybe too much for me, purely because of the questions raised and feelings produced. I enjoyed it overall and the middle was so strong, but by the end I wanted it to finish. My misgivings are driven by my own tastes - otherwise, really enjoyable and I see why people love this so much!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Violence, Blood, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail

jessy4550's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I liked the book, but I do wish the ending was a little longer.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Vomit, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Vomit, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and War

zeloco's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Gun violence, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Grief, and Suicide attempt